There is so much talk about success everywhere. Everyone wants to be successful. Have you ever thought about what success is? It’s simply ignorance of your capabilities. You have set a limitation on yourself, and whenever you cross your own boundary or limitation, you claim success. Success is ignorance of the power of yourself because you assume you can do only that much. You never say, ‘I successfully ate a banana!’ When you put a limitation, you are limiting the power of your own self, your own consciousness. When you are successful, you are proud of it and if you fail, you feel guilty and upset. Both can drag you out of joy, out of the greater potential that you possess.
Failure is a part of the process. There is no control over the fruit of action. If the attention is only on the end result, then you can’t perform. Let us take a runner — if he starts looking behind at who is running, and not looking at the path he needs to run on, then ultimately he will lose, no matter how good he may be. You have to follow your own track, to complete the run whether you lose or win. Accept: ‘Ok, I am going to fail. So what? I still want to do it.’ It’s like a game you play, whether you win or lose, you play the game. In the same way, don’t be afraid of failure. If you fail, never mind, still do it.
When faced with difficult times, invoke the valour in you and tackle the challenge with confidence. Throughout history, we have seen that the world has gone through harder times and come out stronger. You forget a strength in you — Prayer and power of your Sankalpa (positive intention). Don’t panic and keep your mind centred. Whenever we panic and fear, our immunity level goes down. Practices such as pranayama, yoga, meditation and Sudarshan Kriya will help a lot. Remember people face harder times than the ones you are facing now. When you realise this, your problems will appear small. Serve people who are in bigger problems. When you expand from ‘what about me?’ to ‘how can I help you?’, the pains of difficult times will disappear and you will start smiling.
Importantly, realise that you are not alone in these difficult times. There is always an unseen hand working for you. Don’t underestimate the power of prayer. Prayer is not a ritual as it is usually perceived; it’s feeling the helplessness and asking for God‘s help. That makes you very strong and powerful because the Divine belongs to the weak. That’s why He is called Deena Bandhu- the friend, relative and redeemer of the weak, meek, powerless, helpless. When you pray, “No way I can get rid of this stress. I need help”, then you will see changes happen immediately. There is a story in the Bhagwad Geeta. When food was served to Krishna, he got up and said, “No I have to rush”. The gopis tried to convince him, “No, no, you eat your food and then go. There is nothing important than you, everything else can wait.” But he said, “No, no. One of the devotees is in trouble and he is calling me sincerely, I have to rush.” So he rushed, went out of the door but came back immediately. “What happened?”, asked the gopis and Krishna said, “At first, he thought I was the only help and cried my name. And a little later he thought there was something else also which may help him. So now I can wait. I will eat first and then go. The devotee has started depending on other things so he gives me free time.”
The story tells us about the intensity of the faith. The intensity of our faith brings the result that much quicker. The lesser the intensity, the longer time, it will take. Help will come, however; it only takes time. If your love, faith, and belief are deep-rooted, then everything else will move on its own.
Just like, a farmer puts all his grain into a broad sieve at the time of reaping the harvest. Standing on an elevated platform he shakes the sieve. All the grains fall down to the ground while the mere husk simply flies away in the air. These grains are gathered in a sack and replanted in some other place, or used in some other manner. Similarly, if your faith is shaken very quickly and too often, or if you lack faith in difficult times, then you are akin to the flying husk, lost and anchorless. On the other hand, if you have faith that everything will be all right, you will find stability and everything will settle down.
Bad times will come and go. When you are faced with a problem, don’t generalise and eternalise it by thinking about it all the time. Become a part the solution, not the problem! The best thing is to surrender to the Divine. If you are successful, so what? It is another thing that you did, and you can do much more. If you couldn’t do something well, then you couldn’t do it, that’s all. This moment, do you wish to do it again? Then have the sankalpa, the intention — ‘I have to do it!’ — then you will make good progress.
There are two ways of looking at life. One is thinking that, “I’ll be happy after achieving a certain objective.” The second is saying that “I am happy come what may!” Which one do you want to live? Events come and go, they perish like flowers. Establish this knowledge “I am blessed,” firmly in life. It can help you overcome any obstacle and complaints, grumblings and insecurities disappear.
Make the decision today that “Whatever happens, I will remain grounded and peaceful, and have faith that God’s protection is here on me. Whatever happens, I will never go down. God will always hold my hand.” This much is enough to pull you up. Keep your mind peaceful under all situations. Everything else will be taken care of. Having this equanimity both in success and in failure, is what will lead you to real success.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a humanitarian leader, spiritual teacher and an ambassador of peace